The Darkness

Starbreeze Studios are one talented bunch of developers and there’s no two ways about that. They were one of the first game developers who actually debunked the myth that all movie-based games are crappy. In fact they managed to turn a crappy movie into a brilliant game (now that’s some serious skill). Released way back in 2004, The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay was an awesome third person action game (with copious amounts of stealth thrown in) that actually put the immensely talented yet relatively unknown Swedish developer in the limelight. After proving themselves in the industry they moved on to tackle yet another ambitious project; but this time it wasn’t a movie franchise… it was a first person shooter based on a Top Cow comic called The Darkness. So have they lost their touch over the years or do they have another winner on their hands yet again? Embrace the Darkness is all I have to say…

In The Darkness you’ll play as Jackie Estacado, a mob hitman who on the eve of his 21st birthday inherits The Darkness, demonic powers passed down from generation to generation in his family. If that wasn’t bad enough, his uncle Paulie is hell bent on killing him on that very same day but Jackie won’t go down that easily and with his new found powers he’s all set to unleash hell (literally) on those who dared f**k with him.
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The first thing that hits you as soon as you fire up the game is the slick main menu set against the backdrop of hundreds of pulsating tentacles. While this will remind players of Riddick’s slick menu there are other elements that seem to be borrowed from that game as well like the fact that the camera pans out to a third person perspective as and when Jackie climbs or descends ladders or the highly cinematic way the opening credits role to the way everything in the game, cut scenes included take place from a first person perspective enhancing the overall immersion (more on that in a bit).

Before you inherit the powers of the Darkness (which is basically the first level that doubles up as a tutorial) you’ll have to depend on a plethora of conventional firearms like dual pistols, shotguns etc. with which Jackie can pull off some wicked executions (he is a hitman after all). As and when you come really close to an enemy, pull either the left or the right trigger to perform a badass finisher that has Jackie finishing his victims off in highly violent yet entertaining ways. While these are nowhere close to the executions found in Manhunt, kicking an enemy in the nuts and then blowing his brains out while he’s writhing in pain is still entertaining.

Now all this does sound like tons of fun but once you obtain the powers of The Darkness, it’s a whole new ball game altogether. These demonic powers vest Jackie with power and strength beyond his wildest dreams and Starbreeze has managed to translate that power and rage perfectly into the game. For starters you get endowed with two tentacles growing out of your shoulders, both of which are very restless and not to mention hungry all the time. These two tentacles right here have an insatiable appetite for human hearts and as and when you come across a dead body, simple press X (or A depending on your button configuration) and they’ll rip into the body, tear the bloody, pulsating heart out with their razor sharp teeth and devour it slowly in real time (it’s both beautiful and repulsive at the same time).
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Besides looking downright cool, eating human hearts will level up your abilities endowing you with newer powers like Creeping Dark (that where you can send your right tentacle to scout areas out and clear the coast out before you progress) and the Black Hole which as the name suggests conjures up as Black Hole that swallows any living thing in its vicinity. Now there are a few more but I really don’t want to spoil the fun for you so I’ll let you discover them by yourself.

At any given time in the game you’ll even be able to call upon the services of Darklings, your humble minions who come in four different varieties: The Bezerker, The Kamakaze, The Lightkiller and The Gunner. Now each of these Darklings has a personality of its own and they bring their own sense of twisted humor to the table; for example the Bezerker will pee on dead bodies while the Kamakaze will recite some funny stuff like “Viva la Resistance” before he blows himself and a group of enemies up. As unique as this mechanics is, it does have its share of problems since the Darklings can get pretty unresponsive at times which means that they will not follow instructions making life a bit tougher during intense firefights.

Besides all the above mentioned wanton violence the game offers an unprecedented amount of interactivity rarely seen in games today. For example in this once mission Jackie had to go and meet his girlfriend, Jenny, who had planned a small birthday party for him. After blowing out the candles you can go sit on the sofa with her, hold her hand and settle down to watch a movie after which she’ll gaze deeply into your eyes and lock lips with you. Pretty soon she’ll doze off on your shoulder (making you earn the Romantic achievement) after which you can slide of the couch and go about doing your mission as you planned to.

Now this may sound corny to some but it was one of the rare times I actually felt like I could connect with another video character and its small touches like this that elevate The Darkness from other shooters out there. Another example of cool interactivity is in the Subway where you’ll stumble across a bunch of break dancers who’re standing near their boom box waiting for someone to bless them with a certain amount of the green stuff. Drop some coins into their collection box and they’ll demonstrate some crazy dance moves for you.
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Speaking of the Subway, that’s the only way you travel throughout the game from one major area to another. While this works well for most of the game it gets a bit irritating when you have to travel back and forth and without a decent map to guide you, you can end up getting lost at times. Another minor problem I had with the game was, besides a couple of people walking about, New York City is devoid of any sort of life. Now I’ve never been to The Big Apple myself but I really don’t think the city ever stays so dead, especially in the night. But then again this isn’t an RPG so I won’t hold it against the game but it would have still been nice if they could populate the city. While traveling back and forth to complete various missions you’ll come across certain phone numbers lying around the street (or tucked away in hidden locations) and if you head to the nearest pay phone you can punch in that telephone number to unlock some sort of bonus content (which by the way can only be accessed in the Main Menu) while listening to a pretty hilarious voice message. As far as bonus content is concerned, fans of the comic will have a field day since Starbreeze has been kind enough to include entire issues of the comic as well as a truckload of concept art and other stuff.

Another commendable feat that deserves a mention are the numerous TV channels these guys have managed to incorporate in the game. As and when you come across a Television set in the game you can actually sit down and watch an entire movie, watch some cartoons, listen to some music or even watch the news that’s tied in to the events of the game. Now none of this stuff influences gameplay but it’s an awesome touch nevertheless.
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As far as visuals are concerned this game looks mind blowing running on a modified version of the Riddick engine and everything from character models to the powers of The Darkness looks awesome. Only thing is that the lip synching is a bit off so a lot of characters come across as ventriloquists since you can hear their dialogs but don’t see their lips move. Voice talent fueling this game is top notch and every major character has nailed his part down to the tee without hamming it up; special mention goes out to Mike Patton who has voiced the Darkness in a most menacing and evil way (I would not like to bump into this dude in a deserted alleyway).

One of the most disappointing aspects of the game is its Multiplayer component which feels strapped on just for the heck of it. You have your standard Capture the Flag, Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch and that’s about it. You can either choose to play as a Human or a Darkling or a Shape-shifter, some one that can transform from a human to a Darkling and vice versa and this small shape-shifting gimmick isn’t enough to save this mundane and boring MP mode. And to make matters worse there are hardly any servers up and even if you’re lucky to get connected, have fun with the craptastic ping.

All said and done we thoroughly enjoyed this game but I must warn you that it is short (8 – 10 hours) and without a healthy MP component backing it up there’s not much replayability to be found here. If you can look past that, The Darkness is by far one if the most brutal, immersive, engrossing and satisfying shooters on the block right now; I mean if eating hearts and impaling people is not entertaining, I really don’t know what is.